


Survivors

by lackofpatience



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen, Virmire, only slight Shenko, the rest of the gang is there too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 13:56:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5051077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lackofpatience/pseuds/lackofpatience
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Virmire AU.  Shepard's not leaving anyone behind today.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Survivors

**Author's Note:**

> First thing I've ever written for this fandom, but I've been playing the games pretty much nonstop for months now and needed to get this out. Unbeta'd, and it's five in the morning, so hopefully it's not riddled with mistakes. VIRMIRE, MAN. JUST THE WORST, AM I RIGHT?

“Bomb is in position! We're all set here.”

Was it ever really going to be that simple, though? There's been a charge in the air ever since they put boots to the beach, a tension so palpable you could practically _taste_ it, hanging heavy around them all like ozone from the rapidly-approaching lightning storm. Kaidan's never been superstitious, but over the years, he's learned to trust his instincts, and every last one he has has been screaming the entire time they've been on Virmire. By the time Ashley's harried tones crackle to life over the comm, it comes largely as a relief. No more waiting to see how this is all going to go south. Now they can finally get on with it.

“Commander, can you read me?”

“The nuke is almost ready. Get to the rendezvous point, Williams!” There's no resignation on Shepard's part, at least, and that more than anything else is what steels Kaidan's resolve as the report comes in. Whatever happens, they'll handle it. It's what they do.

“Negative, Commander. The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties. We'll never make the rendezvous point in time!”

“Get them out of there, Joker! Now!”

“Negative, it's too hot! Can't risk it! We'll hold them off as long as we-”

The communication cuts out with a worrying lack of finality, and Kaidan steps in, feeling better about their chances now that things are actually going wrong than he ever did before. He's not sure what that says about either him or the mission, but it doesn't really matter.

“It's okay, Commander. I need a couple of minutes to finish arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here.”

Shepard shakes her head, and he frowns. _He_ thought it was a good idea.

“Negative, Lieutenant. That nuke is our one and only mission objective, it's not leaving my sight until we're off this planet.”

At least now there's no chance of Shepard mistaking his new found confidence with complacency or some misplaced trust in the afternoon's eventual outcomes, as he starts a little at her dismissal.

“But-- Williams! Kirrahe and his men, we can't just leave them t-”

“Until we're _all of us_ off this planet,” Shepard roughly interrupts him to amend her words. He knew he wasn't the only one feeling that extra something lurking in the shadows and sun-dappled sands alike, even before they experienced the horrors of Saren's lab, but Kaidan chooses to take Shepard's impatience as confirmation of this, anyway. “I'll take over here. You take a team up to the AA tower and bring them back, on the double. Move!”

“Me? I... yes, ma'am!” He trips over his words only slightly before moving. Is it unexpected? Sure, but that's Shepard's whole M.O. Does it make sense? Of course. He's capable of leading a simple rescue operation, and why should she entrust overseeing the most important aspect of the high-stakes mission to anyone else? He's already done all of the (both literal and metaphorical) heavy lifting with the bomb. He'd almost be insulted if he didn't know how much Shepard's crew means to her, if he didn't know that getting Ashley is likely the biggest priority she has in her heart, no matter what she actually decides. It's the right call.

But then why does everything suddenly feel all wrong again?

***

Things are a mess. But then, they all expected that going in.

There are geth everywhere, too many to risk coming out of cover for other than to take the occasional pot shot, and every time Ashley looks, there somehow seem to be more. With Kirrahe and his men all doing the same, they're at least managing to keep the geth at bay, but they're also stuck with their backs to the wall, their numbers too depleted to make any real headway.

Who would have thought a bunch of small, willowy aliens could be so damn tough, though?

“Spread out whenever you get the chance!” she calls out between panting breaths, a hail of gunfire sailing over her head as she ducks back down behind a crate. “Don't let those bastards herd us together!” It'll be harder to coordinate fire, they'll likely take out even fewer geth, but their odds of dying in one furious barrage also drop if they're not all clustered up. Without reinforcements, they're finished no matter what; they might as well make the geth work for it if they want them dead.

Taking her own advice, Ashley makes a break for a large tank, putting more distance between her and her nearest allies, spraying slugs at a pair of geth troops as she runs until the rifle overheats in her hands. Swearing as she regains cover, she tosses it to the ground with a sizzle, which is when the shadow passes over her and Kirrahe barks a command to ignore it.

Oh, no.

“Heads up, Commander. We just spotted a troop ship headed to your location.”

Shepard's voice jumps into the mix, not sounding particularly concerned, all things considered.

“Yeah, I've got geth pouring out all over the place down here. I can hold them off for now, but not forever. Hurry!”

Yeah, Shepard's got this.

“Aye aye, Commander,” is Kaidan's terse reply, and while she really doesn't like the fact that Shepard's facing those things alone for Ashley's sake, it's all the more reason to stay alive, to keep the men around her alive. Her CO needs backup, and Ashley fully intends to provide it.

***

Kaidan makes it to the AA tower with a blaze of biotics and a shout of anger, taking two geth out from his surprise flanking position before he even bothers to take cover. His relief is long gone, naturally, his body thrumming with the tension of fighting his every impulse to turn around and run the other way, back to where Shepard is stuck doing all of this on her own, but her words keep running through his head (until we're _all_ off this planet), and he trudges on, wades right into the thick of it with Liara and Tali bringing up the rear. He can't see the others yet, only the scattered corpses of the salarian soldiers who've fallen in the carnage, but the concentration of gunfire on the far side of the battlefield gives him their location just fine. He's about to indicate to the others where they'll make their push to break through when his comm jumps to life.

“What's your status?”

Shepard sounds... worried. Injured, maybe? Kaidan can't tell, which is odd in and of itself.

“Still pinned down by the geth, they're everywhere, Commander!” Ashley is the first to reply, and Kaidan's pleased to hear her in stereo, both loud and clear in his earpiece and faint and muffled from behind a large tanker off to his far left. “Making headway, though!”

“We're here, Chief,” Kaidan supplies, indicating her location to the squad. “Might be a minute until we can get to you and the others, though, just hold your positions.” There's little sense in rescuing the suicide runners with one of his own, after all.

Unless Shepard needs them, that is. He's waiting for her to report back before he leads the push, but the wait turns out to stretch on for far longer than he anticipates. He can hear her breathing steadily over the comm _(and is that someone else talking in the distance?),_ which is the only indication that they haven't simply been cut off.

It's the silence of barely two seconds; in a fight, it might as well last an hour.

“Change of plans. Things are getting too hot down here. Alenko, radio Joker and tell him to meet us on the AA tower.”

“Wait, what?” Kaidan coughs the words out, thrown once more. Somewhere behind him, Liara fires off a singularity, snaring a geth trooper just past his cover while Tali unloads a round into its midsection, blowing it apart.

“I think I see an opening through the geth troops. I'm going to activate the nuke and break through, I'll meet you guys up there for the pickup.”

Is it unexpected? As usual. Does it make sense? Unfortunately.

“I don't like this, Commander.”

“It's the only way! Make the call.”

***

Things are still a mess. But maybe it's not all quite so hopeless.

Amazing the sort of difference that a pair of ridiculously powerful biotics and a woman who could hack a geth in her sleep can make. As cascades of blue energy fly and yet another one of the flashlight-topped monsters turns on its helpless compatriots, Ashley makes a vow to plant a big wet kiss right in the middle of the quarian's visor at the _very_ first opportunity she gets.

They're still mostly pinned at the far side of the tower, but together, they've managed to thin the geth numbers enough for Joker to have no trouble bringing the Normandy around. Garrus and Wrex _(Wrex!)_ are helping the most badly injured of Kirrahe's men on board first, and if that's not a testament to the kinds of miracles Shepard is capable of working, nothing is.

Liara snaps a hand out toward a geth trooper as it pokes its head out of cover, freezing it in place while Ashley lines it neatly down the scope of her sniper rifle and takes it down. They've finally reached a point where they have to _choose_ their targets instead of just firing anywhere and trusting it to hit a hostile thanks to their sheer numbers. Even with the situation finally in hand, though, Kaidan doesn't seem able to lose the tension he's been carrying since he and the girls showed up to save the day.

“Commander, where are you? Evac is ready!”

At least he isn't alone in his concern for long. The last of the salarians are clear, Garrus is helping Tali up, everyone is covering them from the Normandy's airlock, when...

“'Fraid I'm not going to be making this one. Get on the Normandy and get clear, both of you.”

Ashley's stomach falls. For the first time, she lets herself taste that palpable static in the air, the one that's been saying this mission was _always_ different.

“What?” Kaidan sputters, disbelieving. “We're not leaving without you!”

“That's an order, Lieutenant.”

No. _No._

“With all due respect, Commander, screw that! How far are you from the bomb site? We can fight through this, we're coming to meet you!”

“There's no time, Chief. I... I never left. Saren was here, held me back. I'm down for the count. Get out while you still can.” Her words are stilted in a way they never are, coming through clenched teeth, bitten off and spat out through the pain of voicing them. Last stands are never pretty.

“Shepard, no!” Kaidan's still protesting, and Ashley sure as hell doesn't blame him. “There's got to be another way!”

“Not this time. Now go!”

If only it were that simple.

“This isn't just about survival, it's about saving the entire galaxy, and we _need_ you, Skipper! You have the visions, you have the cipher, how are we supposed to stop Saren without you? This isn't an option!”

“I don't know.” Her words are quieter now, amplified to a uniform volume by the comm system, but carrying less weight. Like there's not enough air behind them to push them out properly (but of course she's still fighting, the sound of pistol shots ricocheting coming through just as clearly). “But you will. You two have proven yourselves time and time again, so I believe in you, and I trust you to figure out a way to get the job done. But only if you _get out now.”_

This clearly isn't a command Kaidan's ready to accept, and he storms back into the fray, a massive biotic surge throwing the geth, their weapons, and a healthy bit of the surrounding cover flying back in every direction, instantly clearing himself a path.

“Forget it, bomb or no bomb, I'm on my way there, just hold on.”

“Are you really going to disobey my final order just to get yourself killed, Alenko?”

He won't let himself see. And right now, Ashley wishes she couldn't, either. Wishes she could be so blinded by loyalty and love that she'd be willing to give it all up in a blaze of glory. Wishes that the right thing didn't feel so damn _wrong,_ just this once.

But her CO needs backup. And Ashley's going to provide it.

***

“Shepard, I...” Kaidan stammers, his resolve faltering slightly when he hears the pain in her voice. Not the pain caused by whatever injuries she's no doubt suffering, but that caused by disappointment. In him. In wondering if everything she did was for nothing, because she's known for a while now that she lied, that they _aren't_ all getting out of here. Too late, he understands that pregnant pause in communications while she balanced their fates in her head and weighted hers too lightly.

Before he can bring himself back around to the idea of a noble death in service of the woman he loves, though, there's a hand on his shoulder. Ashley's touch is surprisingly gentle, considering the rifle gripped in her other hand, finger still on the trigger, at the ready should any remaining geth get any ideas about rallying.

“She's right, LT. We have to go. Everything's riding on us, now.”

When Shepard replies, he can hear the smile in her voice and he's almost jealous.

“Atta girl. I know you'll both make me proud. I don't regret a thing.”

Ashley's tugging him towards the Normandy now, and it's only the knowledge that it's what Shepard wants him to do that gets his feet moving. He can't disappoint her now. Not if it's going to be the last thought she ever has of him and he's never able to make it _worth_ something.

“Goodbye, Commander,” Ashley whispers, only sheer force of that stubborn Williams will keeping her voice from breaking as she and Kaidan haul themselves to safety. Kaidan tries to say something, anything, but all he has in his head is Shepard's name and try as he might, it won't make it past his tongue.

“Goodbye, Ash. Tell the others I'm sorry about this. And Kaidan, I always thought that we-”

The comm cuts out. He waits. The airlock closes and she's gone.

The taste of ozone in his mouth is the only goodbye he ever manages.

Maybe she hears it.


End file.
